Package for liquids and food products

ABSTRACT

A package for liquids or food products, of the kind comprising a tubular sheath of plastic or the like material, each end of which is closed by a transverse weld, so as to form a bag adapted to be opened by cutting off one of the corners thereof, characterized in that at least one of said corners is inserted inside said bag to form a tightly closed concave cavity, while it is possible to open the package by any known means.

d States Pateni oyen oi all,

[451 Jan. 25, 1972 PACKAGE FOR LIQUIDS AND FOOD PUDUCTS Leon Doyen, Avenue Pasteur, St. Didier on Mt. dOr; Louis Doyen, 95 Rue .lohot Curie, Lyon 5e, both of France Filed: Apr. 22, 1970 Appl. No.: 30,644

Inventors:

Foreign Application Priority Data June 2, 1969 France ..6916826 U.S. Cl ..229/53 lint. Cl ..B65d 33/00 Field of Search ..229/62, 66, 53; 222/527;

[5 6] Reierences Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS l,889,572 11/1932 Robinson ..229/53 Primary Examiner-Donald F. Norton Attorney-Karl F. Ross [5 7] ABSTRACT A package for liquids or food products, of the kind comprising a tubular sheath of plastic or the lilke material, each end of which is closed by a transverse weld, so as to form a bag adapted to be opened by cutting of? one of the corners thereof, characterized in that at least one of said corners is in serted inside said bag to form a tightly closed concave cavity, while it is possible to open the package by any known means.

5 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PAIENIEDJAHZSBYZ 363M133 INVENTORS'.

LEON DOYEN BY LOUIS DOYEN Sari g in! ATTORNEY PACKAGE FOR LIQUIDS AND FOOD PRODUCTS The present invention relates to packages of the kind comprising a tubular sheath of plastic or the like material, each end of which is closed by a transverse weld, so as to form a bag adapted to be opened by cutting off one of the comers thereof.

Although this way of opening such packages is very widely used, and is usually fully satisfactory, it has a drawback in that, when there is no top wrapping for such a package, the product contained in the latter is likely to contact the outer edges of the walls of the package, which may be contaminated by the environment or various contacts.

Although such contamination is usually not directly dangerous for the human system, it is nevertheless better to obviate it. In certain countries, besides, and in particular in the United States of America, sanitary regulations forbids packages intended for containing consumable products, and in particular liquids, or at least those portions of such packages adjacent to the outlet ports thereof, to be in direct contact with the outside, in order to prevent any risk of contamination of said products. Thus, glass bottles must be provided with caps fully covering the necks, and cardboard packages must include an opening device efficiently protecting during transportation and storage those portions intended to be used for pouring out the products contained in such cardboard packages.

The specific object of the present invention is to provide safe and inexpensive means, adapted to be used in automatic mass production, which ensure an efficient protection against contamination for the portions of a plastic material package which are adjacent to the opening area thereof.

To this end, at least one of the angles of the package or bag, that is, one of the comers thereof, is inserted inside the bag, so as to form a concave cavity which is tightly closed, but enables nevertheless the bag to be opened by any known means.

Thus, the outer surface of said corner is protected against any contamination, from the time a product is put into the bag up to the time said product is to be consumed. As a matter of fact, the corner which must be cut ofi' to enable the product to flow out of the bag, is withdrawn from the interior of the package only at the very moment it is going to be cut off.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the corner inserted inside the package is positioned against the inner longitudinal wall of the latter.

According to a further embodiment, the corner inserted inside the package is positioned against the inner portion of the corresponding transverse weld of the latter.

The tight closure of the concave cavity formed in the package can be obtained by any means, but preferably by an adhesive strip applied lengthwise over the free edges of said cavity.

In a modified embodiment of said tight closure, the latter is obtained by at least one line of glue interposed between the free edges of the concave cavity.

The invention will now be described in further detail, with reference to the appended diagrammatic drawing, which illustrates, by way of nonlimiting examples, two embodiment of a package according to the invention. In the drawing:

FIG. I is a perspective view of a corner of a package formed according to the invention;

2 is a top plan view of same, in partial section, showing the insertion of said corner;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are sectional views, on an enlarged scale, illustrating two embodiments of said package.

Referring now to the FIGURES, the invention relates, as previously stated, to packages comprising a tubular sheath 2 said lips constituting the free edges of the cavity 6.

In an embodiment of the invention, as shown in FIG. 3, the

comer 5a is pushed back against the transverse wall 8 including the transverse weld 8. In a further embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, said comer 5a is pushed back against the longitudinal wall '7.

After said corner is pushed back, the free edges 9 of the cavity 6 formed thereby are tightly connected together.

In one embodiment, such connection is obtained by means of an adhesive strip 10 overlapping said two edges 9 over the whole length thereof, as shown in FIG. 3. In a modified embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the free edges 9 of the cavity 6 are bonded together by a line of glue 12.

Since the above operation is carried out at the same time a product is put in the package, the inner cavity 6 is thus protected against any contamination, both during the storage and the transportation and handling of the package.

As a result, there is obtained a complete protection against contamination for the surfaces of the corner 5a which, after the cutting off of the latter, will be juxtaposed to the resulting opening.

To obtain this opening in the package, it is thus only necessary, before cutting off the comer 5a, to release the two edges 9 of the cavity 6, and to cause the corner 5a to jut out, by squeezing manually, for instance, the package body.

It should be noted that the insertion of the corner 50 inside the package, as well as the closing of the cavity 6, can be carried out directly on the machine which makes the packages, without requiring practically any additional operation.

Obviously, the invention is by no means confined to the em bodiments thereof described in the foregoing by way of examples only; on the contrary, it includes all the possible alternative embodiments which will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and are within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

I. A package for liquids or food products, of the kind com prising a tubular sheath of plastic or the like material, each end of which is closed by a transverse weld, so as to form a bag adapted to be opened by cutting off one of the corners thereof, characterized in that at least. one of said corners is pushed back inside said bag to form a tightly closed concave cavity, while it is possible to open the package by any known means.

2. A package as claimed in claim 1, further characterized in that that corner inserted inside the package is positioned against the inner longitudinal wall of the latter.

3. A package as claimed in claim 1, further characterized in that that corner inserted inside the package is positioned against the inner portion of the corresponding transverse weld of the latter.

4. A package as claimed in claim 1, further characterized in that the tight closure of the concave cavity formed in the package is obtained by means of an adhesive strip applied lengthwise over the free edges of said cavity.

5. A package as claimed in claim ll, further characterized in that the tight closure of the concave cavity formed in the package is obtained by at least one line of glue interposed between the free edges of said cavity. 

1. A package for liquids or food products, of the kind comprising a tubular sheath of plastic or the like material, each end of which is closed by a transverse weld, so as to form a bag adapted to be opened by cutting off one of the corners thereof, characterized in that at least one of said corners is pushed back inside said bag to form a tightly closed concave cavity, while it is possible to open the package by any known means.
 2. A package as claimed in claim 1, further characterized in that that corner inserted inside the package is positioned against the inner longitudinal wall of the latter.
 3. A package as claimed in claim 1, further characterized in that that corner inserted inside the package is positioned against the inner portion of the corresponding transverse weld of the latter.
 4. A package as claimed in claim 1, further characterized in that the tight closure of the concave cavity formed in the package is obtained by means of an adhesive strip applied lengthwise over the free edges of said cavity.
 5. A package as claImed in claim 1, further characterized in that the tight closure of the concave cavity formed in the package is obtained by at least one line of glue interposed between the free edges of said cavity. 